Curbs and curb walls are well known and have been widely used in the construction industry, the concrete flooring industry, and other industries for many years. In various buildings, curb walls are positioned adjacent to walls to protect the walls from damage by vehicles (such as fork lift trucks). In one such example, curb walls are widely used in buildings that provide cold storage to protect the buildings' insulated walls that provide the cold storage.
FIG. 1 generally illustrates a part of a structure which has an upstanding insulated wall 20 and a concrete floor 40 positioned on a sub-grade 50 adjacent to the insulated wall 20 (after the concrete is poured adjacent to the insulated wall). The concrete floor 50 and the insulated wall 20 form or define part of a cold storage area 30. The problem with this configuration is that a vehicle (not shown) in the cold storage area 30 of the structure may hit or engage the insulated wall 20 and damage the insulated wall 20. To prevent this, builders have built curb walls such as curb wall 60 adjacent to the insulated wall 20 as generally shown in FIG. 2. The curb wall 60 generally protects the insulated wall 20 against damage by vehicles (such as fork lift trucks). However, the known methods and apparatus for building or installing such curb walls have several disadvantages.
One disadvantage with the known methods and apparatus for building or installing such curb walls is that such methods and apparatus result in the newly poured concrete floor 40 being damaged. For example, the known forms (not shown) used to form such curb walls need to be supported by the concrete floor 40 adjacent to the curb wall 60. This requires these forms to be attached to the newly poured concrete floor 40 which causes holes to be made in the newly poured concrete floor 40 to support such forms. When such forms are subsequently removed after the curb wall 60 is poured and hardened, the holes are left in the newly poured concrete floor 40 adjacent to the curb wall 60. These holes weaken the new concrete floor 40. These holes are typically patched, which adds to the expense and time needed to build these structures and specifically the curb walls of these structures. The known forms used to form such curb walls (if not reused) are typically discarded, which creates extra waste in landfills. This also creates additional expense in disposing of this extra waste.
Another disadvantage with the known methods and apparatus for building or installing such curb walls is that such methods and apparatus require a substantial amount of labor to install the known forms before the curb wall is poured, to remove the known forms after the curb is poured, and in finishing the curb wall after it is poured.
Another disadvantage with the known methods and apparatus for building or installing such curb walls is that such methods and apparatus require relatively costly forms, some of which cannot be reused, or be reused more than a limited number of times.
Accordingly, there is a need for an apparatus and method which solves the above problems.